Best Friends Forever
by Kagome-Chan4
Summary: What would happen if Naruto had a friend while growing up? Would anything be different? My take on the best friend angle & essentially a rewrite of one of my earlier stories with a different twist. Different!Itachi & Strong!Naruto. Please Read& Review
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I own the plot, original characters, and made-up jutsu names.

Summary: What if Naruto had a friend while growing up? Would his life be any different? Different!Itachi & Strong!Naruto

Prologue:

Groups of survivors gathered around the podium. Behind them lay the destruction brought on by the Great Demon, Kyuubi; the Fourth Hokage had just sacrificed his life to destroy Kyuubi and save Konoha, Fire Nation's Hidden Ninja Village. Chaos spread through the air, until a clear voice said out loud, laden with grief.

"Citizens of Konoha, we must rebuild our village and carry out the Fourth Hokage's wish for us to live on and for Konoha to thrive again. New leafs will spring forward and show the rest of the nations our strength." The Third Hokage spoke out.

Cheers rang out in the crowd.

"Now I must present to you a hero. It is also the Fourth Hokage's wish that he be recognized as a hero of this war." The Third Hokage held up a small bundle, showing a sleeping blonde baby of no more than 1 month old. "This war would not have ended without this boy. I present to you Uzumaki Naruto, the boy that made a sacrifice to become Kyuubi's container."

"WHAT! Kyuubi's not dead?" "We must kill the boy while he is defenseless. He will surely grow up to exact Kyuubi's revenge on the village." The crowd murmured.

"How can you think that way?!" a girl's voice rang out. The crowd parted ways in the middle to show a little girl, no more than 2 years old, with blond hair down to the waist, with puffy eyes that looked like she had just cried. "That baby," pointing to Naruto, "is the reason this entire village is not flattened to the ground. My father gave his life to protect the village, and he would have wanted me to thank Naruto for ensuring the village's survival."

The crowd's rage died down, and the murmurs trickled to a stop. The Third Hokage seized the moment and pronounced, "Let's return to our homes for the night and focus on rebuilding the village in the days to come." Slowly the crowd dissipated and all that's left in front of the podium was the little girl.

"Can I see Naruto-kun?" the little girl said. The Third Hokage smiled and motioned for her to come up the podium. "Yuki-chan, I'm sorry about Keisuke-kun. I'm sure he would be proud of what you did just now." "I know, Hokage-sama. I will honor his wishes and grow up to be a proud kuniochi of the Leaf." Yuki smiled at the baby. "Naruto-kun will have a hard life. I will do my best to be there for him."

The Third Hokage sighed inwardly at how grown-up a 2 year old girl has to be in this time.

"Well, Yuki-chan, I think you should return to your home. Gai-kun will be worried."

Yuki smiled. "Well, I wouldn't want to keep my uncle waiting." She leaned down and kissed Naruto on the chin. "See you later, Naruto-kun."


	2. Chapter 1: The Mask

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I own my original characters and ideas of a story

Note: this will be a drastic rewrite of the plot I had intended for my other story. I might continue the other story if I get some ideas about it.

Summary: Friendship fic. Naruto has a friend while growing up. Strong!Naruto

Warning: original character might end up being sorta mary sue….

Chapter 1: The Mask

Naruto cried as he half ran, half stumbled all the way back to his broken down apartment. He didn't understand why all the adults in the village gave him glares and either ignored him or shoved him around. He didn't understand why no one wants to play with him at the playground. An older kid even went so far as to purposely stump on the sand castle he made, and all the kid's mother did was pull the kid away quickly while muttering "keep away from that brat, I don't want my precious Sou-kun to catch any germs" under her breath.

Naruto was very mature for his age. At the age of 4, Naruto was already a little independent. He had to be seeing how his caretakers didn't really take care of him at all. They left him milk in the fridge and some instant food and visited him once a week to make sure he wasn't dead. Other than that, they disliked talking to him and had the same attitude as the rest of the villagers. Naruto had learned the basics of how to take care of himself and could now stand on a high chair to heat up stuff in the microwave. His favorite food was instant ramen, although sometimes he would get burned from the scalding hot water.

"Naruto-kun? Did something happen?" Naruto stopped when he heard her voice. He lifted up his head and through teary blue eyes saw a young girl about half a head taller than he was.

"Yuki-neechan!" Naruto yelled happily, tears forgotten, as he jumped the girl and hugged her tightly. "I am so happy to see you!"

There was one exception to the general feelings Konoha had towards Naruto. Yuki Maito, currently 6 years old, had always been a constant fixture in Naruto's life ever since he could remember. He treasured the older girl as both a sister and a best friend. The happiest moments of his life were when Yuki was around.

"I am very happy to see you too, Naruto-kun." Yuki gave Naruto a pet on the head and a big smile. "I am sorry I can't come earlier. Ojisan had forbidded me from leaving the house again and I had to sneak past him." Yuki took into account Naruto's form and promptly ushered Naruto into his apartment. "Let's get you cleaned up first and then we will talk."

After Yuki assisted Naruto in taking a bath and changing into clean clothes, she put him down on his bed, the only furniture in this small apartment.

"Naruto-kun, why were you crying again?"

"Yuki-neechan, why does everyone else hate me?" Naruto asked while rubbing his eye

Yuki sighed inwardly. She knew Naruto was growing up neglected and it wasn't having a good effect on his psyche. She did what she could to be there for him but she couldn't be there all the time. It was time she explained some things and took some drastic measures. She just wished she didn't have to teach Naruto about this.

"Naruto-kun, listen carefully to what I'm about to say, there are special circumstances about you that not everyone appreciates. You will learn more about these circumstances when you grow up, but don't be discouraged. I will always be there for you no matter what. And I am sure that you will make friends with kids your age eventually, once they got to know you as the kind and caring person that you are."

"…nee-chan, I don't get it" Naruto said with a confused look in his eyes

Yuki mentally slapped herself. No big words!

"Naruto-kun, I guess it's too early for the explanation then. How about we play a game?"

"Yay! I love games. Yuki-neechan's games are fun. I have been practicing Yuki-neechan's games everyday. What kind of game is it this time?"

"It's called hide and seek, Naruto-kun. When you get really good at this game, none of the villager's glares will get to you anymore." Yuki said softly.

"Do you know why bullies exist, Naruto-kun? Bullies pick on others because they like seeing others in tears. If you don't give someone the satisfaction of knowing you have been beaten, then eventually that someone gets bored of picking on you. Hide and seek works the same way, really. All you have to do is create a mask and wear it against other people. A mask of feigned cheerfulness no matter what other people may throw at you."

Naruto cocked his head to one side as he listened to Yuki.

"Yuki-neechan, does that mean you have a mask on too?"

Yuki chuckled and hugged Naruto.

"Never against you, Naruto-kun. Never against you."

Tell me what you think then.


End file.
